Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1192 The Forestry Team is Disbanded, First Half of the Year Review

On June 20th, Li Long took a truck to the Nanshan outpost of the forestry team in Aili at the end of the fritillaria season.

To his surprise, the place was already undergoing renovations. Outside the courtyard gate of Ai Li's office, the original forestry team sign had been taken down and a new sign had been put up that read "Maxian Nanshan Forestry Work Station".

Hearing the car, Ellie came out of the yard and saw Li Long getting out of the car. She greeted him with a smile, "Adasi, how's everything?"

"Okay, okay, you've changed everything here? When did you change it?" Li Long asked.

"Sigh, it's only been a few days since the change." Ellie's voice carried a hint of resentment and helplessness.

"I see some people moving," Li Long asked. "What does that mean?"

"It's nothing special. There's a notice from above that the forest rangers can no longer live together here. This area... will mostly be an office area from now on. Oh, and the forestry police station is also located here."

"What about the forest rangers?" Li Long asked. "We can't just remove them, can we?"

"They definitely won't be moved, but they won't be living and eating together like they are now. They'll build their own houses at each mountain pass, and the forestry bureau will provide subsidies. In the future, we'll try to find people who already live there, whether it's a family or an individual."

Li Long nodded, indicating that he understood.

This model continued in later generations: forest rangers had jobs, and some were even herders who took on the role of rangers on the side, grazing their livestock while protecting the forest.

Of course, different places have different rules. In some places, forestry stations are set up at important mountain passes to check people and vehicles entering and leaving.

"Is the forestry police station here too?" Li Long asked.

"That's right. The houses have been set up, but the people haven't been assigned yet... but it'll only be a few days. As for the people, I know them, and I've inquired about them. They said that they can't handle the confiscated items themselves; they'll have to hand them over."

Ai Li's meaning was clear: he couldn't help. The possibility of confiscating goods from the mountains and selling them to Li Long was gone. Their forestry station's enforcement power had been reduced; confiscation was now mainly handled by the forestry police station, which followed a different set of procedures.

Li Long said he understood.

Actually, buying things from the forestry team is now a bonus for Li Long's purchasing station; it's fine if they have it, but it won't have much of an impact if they don't.

After all, his purchasing station currently covers an area of ​​at least two or three counties. Even in the off-season, his daily turnover is still several thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan, so he really doesn't care about making a little extra.

So Li Long wasn't too disappointed. He chatted with Ellie for a while and then they went to the warehouse together.

“Our team members know that this is how things are, so they have been very motivated during this period. Although the fritillary season is over, they have still gained a lot.”

Opening the warehouse, Airi was quite proud:
"Fritillaria bulbs, dried and wet, I have forty or fifty bags in total. Oh, and wild mushrooms too. You've been collecting wild mushrooms there, haven't you? Our team said we can't confiscate things from herb gatherers anymore, so they're going to dig for herbs and pick mushrooms themselves. Let's see if you'll accept them..."

"Of course we'll collect them," Li Long said with a smile. "In that case, next year during the fritillary bulb season, I'll go to the various mountain passes to find your forest rangers to collect them. By the way, we don't need to wait until next year; the black tiger paw mushroom will be available in July, and we can collect them then."

“Sure,” Airi said with a smile, having regained her composure. “I told them about it during the meetings these past two days. We forest rangers know the area better. If they really want to make money, there are plenty of good things to be had.”

Li Long believed this.

“I tell them that I collect everything from the mountains. Not just medicinal herbs, hides, mushrooms... By the way, I only collect two kinds of mushrooms, mainly because other ones with less obvious characteristics are more likely to cause poisoning.”

"I'll take them alive too. Next spring, if your forest rangers can catch any live red deer, roe deer, or anything like that, I'll take them too. I'll even take wild boar babies..."

"Will you take in the wolf cub?" Ellie joked.

"Um... if it's too small, that's fine, but if it's too big, it won't work, because it won't be tamed." Li Long answered seriously.

"Hahaha, I know now, I'll definitely be able to get you some later."

"Okay, here's my deal: red deer, a few hundred yuan each; roe deer, a couple hundred each; wild boar, ten or so yuan each... These things come in groups, so they're easy to catch if you want."

Ellie nodded; he couldn't say it directly.

"However, I think we might be able to collect some things next year. I'll contact you then. We know about this reform, you friends know about it, but the herb gatherers don't. Maybe we can keep it going for another year or two."

That's what Airi thought.

He asked Li Long to watch over these things, while he went to the courtyard and called over a few young men to help.

Since the fritillaria bulbs were mixed, Li Long and Ellie discussed calculating the price of both dry and wet bulbs together and giving an average price.

Allie had no problem with it; he didn't even think about haggling. What he appreciated most about Li Long was that he would take anything, even things that looked like junk to him, Li Long would still give him a price.

He acquired the goods very thoroughly, which is why he maintained a long-term partnership with Li Long.

It's not that no one wants to replace Li Long and cooperate with him, but those people either don't offer enough money or are too picky.

There's no way around it. Ever since the reform and opening up, middlemen have naturally held the power to set prices. These people are used to buying things and they pick the best ones—from the very beginning when they were buying things in the countryside, they had a great sense of superiority.

Even when dealing with major clients like the forestry team, they still unconsciously carry a bit of their professional habits with them.

So Ellie doesn't indulge them.

After inspecting all the fritillaria bulbs, Li Long had a good idea of ​​their prices and gave an average price of forty yuan per kilogram.

Most of them are semi-dry and semi-wet.

It weighs over 1,400 kilograms in total, which is more than 50,000 yuan.

There were quite a few dried wild mushrooms. Some were already rotten and basically had to be thrown away. Li Long picked out the rotten mixed mushrooms and showed them to Ellie. Morel mushrooms have one advantage: even when they rot, they don't attract maggots, so they are easy to identify.

"I mainly collect these two types of mushrooms." To Li Long's surprise, it was only late June, and the mushrooms he collected already included black tiger paw mushrooms, which seemed to have sprouted early.

"Okay, okay, leave me two or three, I'll show them to the team later." Ellie is a good captain; he really thinks about how to benefit his team members.

After all, it won't be easy for forest rangers to earn extra money like they have these past two years. Since they can't confiscate other people's things, they'll have to find their own way.

Li Long had told him before which mushrooms to collect, but he didn't remember them because there was no need.

Things will be different from now on.

Li Long kept a small pile of morel mushrooms and black tiger paw mushrooms, and then started weighing the rest.

Because many of the morel mushrooms were not dried, Li Long bought them at 15 yuan per kilogram.

There are over 400 kilograms of morel mushrooms, which is worth over 6,000 yuan.

There weren't many hides available, and at this time of year, the mountains were densely forested and overgrown with grass, making it difficult to hunt wild animals. Li Long offered a general purchase price of one thousand yuan.

There were also some odds and ends. Li Long glanced at them and saw that they were mostly junk he had picked up from the mountains, such as porcelain bowls, copper coins, and rusty old military knives.

Li Long directly ordered the items in piles, each pile costing one hundred yuan.

Airi laughed. In his opinion, these junk items could only be sold for a little money with Li Long.

In the end, it came to a little over 60,000 yuan, which Li Long paid in cash. He had gone to the bank specifically to exchange for new bills before coming.

Airi spittled his fingers to count the money, then told the young men to load it onto the truck.

The truck was loaded to the brim. After loading, Ellie treated Li Long to mutton.

“From now on, I won’t buy anything, but I’ll still come over often,” Aili said. “I don’t have many Han Chinese friends, but you’re one of them. When I come to the county, I’ll come find you for a drink.”

"No problem, come often." Li Long raised his glass. It wouldn't be right not to drink this time, but fortunately, Ai Li knew he had to drive and go to Hu County in the afternoon to pick up some things from Abu, so he didn't drink much.

Li Long took the car back to unload the goods, and then went to Ablat's place.

Huxian County is also carrying out forestry system reforms. Although Abulaiti and his team haven't put up their signs yet, the direction of reform is the same.

Hu County and Ma County are both located west of Beiting. The two counties are in roughly the same situation and have also experienced similar consequences – some pilot reforms often fall to these two counties.

Ordinary people...sigh. This must be what they call the growing pains of our times.

Ablat didn't have as much stuff as Ai Li had, but he told Li Long something.

“Later, I contacted a few forest rangers, and we’ll work together to get those mountain products in the mountains.” He whispered to Li Long, “Our work station has a phone number. Once I’ve got the stuff, I’ll call you and you can come over.”

Of course, if it's not a lot, I'll deliver it to you in my GAZ truck.

"That's great." Li Long was naturally happy to agree; it was a good thing for him.

"The main thing is, in the past two years, we were able to intercept some medicinal herb gatherers' supplies, and our lives as forest rangers were pretty good. We had wine to drink and meat to eat. Now things have changed, and our only income is our salary."

You know, forest rangers' wages are very low; it's impossible to live like we used to. So, we have to find our own way.”

This shows that Ablat is more forward-thinking and pragmatic than Airi. Airi was actually planning to stick to the same old strategy: take advantage of the information asymmetry among herb gatherers and reap another wave of profits.

But Ablat thought a little further ahead. Since they wouldn't let us confiscate these things, and these things are valuable, why don't we just work together? We can dig in our own mountainous areas, and the forestry police station can't just arrest their own people, can they?

There are always dark spots under the lamp, and they consider this normal.

Ablat has Li Long's phone number. Li Long's idea is that once he gets the stuff, he can just call Li Long.

At the Huxian Forestry Bureau, Li Long received goods worth nearly 50,000 yuan. After loading the goods onto the truck, Abulaiti invited Li Long to stay for a meal, but this time they didn't drink alcohol.

By the time the truck was brought back to the recycling station and unloaded, it was completely dark.

The cooperation between the two forestry teams has largely come to an end. From then on, there were fewer large-scale transactions at the purchasing station, and the main transactions were still small, sporadic purchases every day.

This year, Li Long didn't go into the mountains to set up a "small shop." Many people would often go to the wooden house to wait, but when they finally found out that Li Long's mountain shop was closed, they could only leave disappointed.

Li Long was also helpless; he couldn't be in two places at once. His friends in the village all had families to support, and with the busy farming season, they couldn't go into the mountains.

Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng were also extremely busy at the purchasing station. During the peak season for fritillaria purchases, cleaning the fritillaria was a huge task every day, in addition to cleaning the skins that Liu Gaolou regularly delivered.

These two are truly hardworking and deserve the wages and bonuses Li Long gives them.

Li Long is working on streamlining the acquisition process. Meanwhile, Factory Director Du, during a meeting with leadership, expressed his desire to continue serving concurrently as the director of the agricultural machinery factory.

His reasons were clear. The agricultural machinery factory has developed so rapidly in recent years mainly because it has produced new products that better meet market needs. And he was the one who strongly promoted these new products; the cooperation with both designers and buyers has been excellent.

Replacing the factory manager now would be detrimental to the factory's development.

Factory Director Du also made it clear that he was not greedy for the power he had, but mainly hoped that the newly developed factory would not suffer setbacks due to the change of personnel, as this was not something that had never happened before.

If the higher authorities deem him unsuitable for this position, he will certainly obey their arrangements.

Director Du wasn't this eloquent before. It's only in the last two years, with the introduction of new products, that he's become a frequent guest of many people. He's gained more experience and matured as a result.

Not only should one be a good technical factory manager, but also a politically-minded factory manager who can enable the factory to develop and benefit the workers.

The leadership was very satisfied with Director Du's statement and said they would seriously consider it.

After all, Director Du was a meritorious person. His agricultural machinery factory had grown from an inconspicuous small factory into one of the top enterprises in the city in terms of profit contribution, so his words naturally carried weight.

Although the leader did not explicitly state it, he said he would seriously consider his suggestions and ideas.

After returning to the factory, Director Du called Li Long and told him about the matter.

Li Long was washing and drying fritillaria bulbs he had collected from two forestry teams at the purchasing station with Liang Shuangcheng when he received the call.

"No matter what, I'll settle the recent dividends and send them to you first." Director Du was actually making two preparations. "If I really am transferred, at least I will make sure that our cooperation is settled before I leave."

Of course, if I leave, the leadership should consult me ​​before selecting a replacement. I will make it clear to them that our cooperation is the most important partnership in the factory and comes first.

"Then thank you very much," Li Long said with a smile. "It would be best if you didn't leave. Being a nominal leader and a factory director with real power is better suited to your familiar field."

"That's what I think too," Director Du sighed. "These past few years working with you on harvesters have been the most comfortable years I've had running the factory. I hope it can continue."

The next day, the agricultural machinery factory's dividend payment to Li Long arrived. This quarter was the peak season for sprayers and harvesters, and Li Long received a dividend of over 70,000 yuan. Although it wasn't as much as it was during the winter when snowplows were in operation, it was still a considerable sum.

With his income increasing, Li Long was thinking about exchanging some US dollars on the black market so that he could go and bring back some things when the neighboring country experienced turmoil in a couple of years.

As for what specific things to bring over, Li Long doesn't have a clear goal yet.

There are mainly two directions: one is to stockpile them for later profit, and the other is to develop in the agricultural sector.

High-horsepower tractors are one such target; although not many people can afford them right now, there are still potential customers.

Especially with the rise of cotton cultivation and the reclamation of wasteland, farmers with money contracted land ranging from tens to hundreds of acres. By 2000, there were already large-scale farmers contracting thousands of acres of land.

As for those who contract tens of thousands of acres of land later on, they have already left the realm of farmers and will not be discussed here.

As for the cotton harvester that Li Long has been longing for, he dares not get around to it for the time being.

The main difference is that when cotton harvesting machines are used, different seeders and plastic films are needed for planting cotton.

Most importantly, cotton harvested by cotton harvesters is not accepted by ordinary cotton ginning plants.

Actually, the Russians don't have much to offer; their main asset is military equipment. Otherwise, they wouldn't have had the trade deal of exchanging 10,000 fur coats for 24 Su-27 fighter jets.

But Li Long had no interest in military equipment, so it was useless to him—mainly because he didn't understand it.

Therefore, he has relatively few options, so after thinking it over, the most cost-effective things he has so far are the used car, antelope horn, and leather goods.

As for the future... we'll talk about that later.

At the end of June, Jia Tianlong came again to collect another batch of fritillaria bulbs.

After completing this round of collection, Li Long conducted a brief inventory.

This year's fritillary bulb season, I sold slightly more fritillary bulbs than last year, about twelve tons. However, because the purchase price increased, the profit was not much higher than last year—because there were more competitors.

The total profit from these fritillaria bulbs is approximately one million.

The fritillaria bulbs transported from Lao Gu amounted to about three tons, with a profit of around 300,000 yuan. Li Long received half, 150,000 yuan. Lao Gu's purchase price was slightly lower than theirs, resulting in a higher profit margin.

Li Long bought less than two tons of morel mushrooms, making a profit of less than 30,000 yuan. Gu Boyuan bought less than one ton, but the profit margin was still high, around 18,000 yuan.

As for the hides, in the past six months, we have received about 15,000 hides from Liu Gaolou, and after selling them to Zhao Hui, the total profit was about 1.5 million.

The rest of the miscellaneous items are ignored.

The dividends from the agricultural machinery factory totaled more than 200,000 yuan.

In other words, Li Long made a net profit of about 2.8 million yuan in the past six months.

It's about the same as the total of all the previous years combined.

It's experiencing explosive growth.

Of course, the taxes paid were also considerable. A small purchasing station paid hundreds of thousands of yuan in taxes in just six months, which surprised the county!

Overall, they were extremely wealthy.

P.S.: My sciatica is acting up, it's really uncomfortable.

(End of this chapter)